Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vessel for the heat treatment of a liquid contaminated by pathogenic agents, a decontamination facility comprising such a vessel, and an associated decontamination method.
The invention applies in particular within the context of units for treating pathogenic liquids or effluents contaminated by infectious germs or agents such as viruses, bacteria, parasites (protozoa, helminths) or even prion-type proteins, or else genetically modified organisms.
Description of the Related Art
In laboratories, the manufacture, for example of vaccines generates pathogenic effluents that must be decontaminated in a guaranteed manner before any release, for example into the wastewater network, that is to say it is necessary to be certain that after treatment the infectious germs or agents have been rendered inoffensive.
This may be carried out for example by heating the effluents in a hermetic vessel at a temperature of 135° C. and by maintaining this temperature for several minutes.
However, one of the problems of these vessels that is known consists in obtaining a homogeneous temperature in the vessel and avoiding cooler zones that may present the risk that the germs or agents will not be completely neutralized and rendered inoffensive.
Another problem of these vessels is, on the one hand, the heating time, which limits the amount of effluent that can be treated in one day and, on the other hand, the energy necessary for the heating and its associated cost.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 3,139,812 describes a method and an apparatus for continuously cooking and sterilizing liquids and suspensions. In this document, the liquid is injected into a vessel in the form of a spray into a steam mist. A liquid residual portion at the bottom is not subjected to any heating.
It should be noted that this process and this apparatus are in no way suitable for the decontamination of pathogenic liquids or effluents contaminated by infectious germs or agents such as viruses, bacteria, parasites (protozoa, helminths) or even prion-type proteins, or else genetically modified organisms. Indeed, neither the exposure time of the spray to the steam nor the heating time at a high temperature are controlled.
Furthermore, in one embodiment, the bottom of the vessel is equipped with vertical plates to avoid any swirling movement of the residual liquid in order to facilitate the discharging of the liquid through a central pipe positioned in the bottom of the vessel.